Madders

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of perennial plant known for its roots used to produce a red dye, utilized since ancient times in textiles
2. A botanical term referring to various species in the Rubia genus, often recognized for their medicinal qualities
3. The name can also refer to the dye itself derived from the roots, historically significant in art and fabric coloration

Etymology: Madders is simply the plural of madder, the red dye and the plant that yields it. The noun goes back to Old English "mædere" and "mæddre", which in turn descend from a Proto-Germanic form, and it has cognates in Old Norse "maðra" and Swedish "måra". Its ultimate relationship to the Proto-Indo-European root for "blue" is a striking pairing, since the plant gives red rather than blue, but the link is a matter of the root's broad reconstruction and the word's own sense is red. English also borrowed the word from Irish "meadar", which means the same plant, so Irish and English arrived at the name through a shared stock of terms for this dye. Irish "madar" and Latvian "madara" are further relatives of the same family, showing how widely the plant and its name were known across northern and western Europe. The plural form is used when speaking of several plants or several batches of the dye, which is why it appears in discussions of historical pigments in art and textile work.